The present invention relates to turbines and pertains particularly to an improved two-phase fluid turbine for geothermal fluids.
The end of the era of low cost fossil fuels has created a substantial interest in alternate sources of energy. Among these sources of energy yet to be fully developed is that of geothermal energy. Enormous amounts of energy are stored beneath the earth surface in the form of high temperature rocks, molten lava, and other materials including water and steam.
Attempts to develop this source of energy by means of turbines utilizing subterranean sources of steam have met with numerous difficulties. The principal problems with geothermal fluids are the typical multiphase character thereof and the entrapped minerals and particles within the fluids. Conventional steam turbines are impractical as a means of extracting the energy from such geothermal sources.
Attempts to separate the phases of the fluid to utilize only the steam and to remove entrapped particles and dissolved minerals prior to use has been impractical because of the high cost thereof.
It is therefore desirable that a turbine be available which is capable of utilizing two-phase geothermal fluids directly without the necessity of filtering, separating and the like.